More women ‘addicted to prescription tranquillisers than illegal drugs’

Stressed-out women are turning in their millions to prescription drugs as they try to escape financial strains and the pressures of family life.

More women are turning to prescription drugs over illegal substances like cannabis, the study has found (Picture: Getty)

They are more likely to abuse tranquillisers prescribed by their doctors than use cannabis or other illegal substances, a UN study found.

It is a ‘growing health problem’, the researchers claim, with the suspicion that GPs are dishing out sleeping pills and painkillers to patients they believe are addicted to them.

‘Some women just need something to help them get through the day and deal with all the stresses of life such as looking after children and work or the lack of it,’ said Family Doctor Association chairman Dr Peter Swinyard.

‘Women tend to be better at coming to see their GPs if they have a problem and sometimes doctors just dispense pills and sympathy.’

Cannabis is the world’s most popular drug with 224million users worldwide, says the UN.

But its World Drug Report shows 4.2 per cent of women in Europe abuse tranquillisers compared with 3.5 per cent who smoke cannabis.

‘While illicit drug use among males in general greatly exceeds that among females, the non-medical use of tranquillisers and sedatives among females in countries where data are available is a notable exception to the rule,’ the report warns.

In Britain, the number of painkiller prescriptions increased sixfold to 1.4billion from 1991 to last year.